"An army of snowmen?
Are you serious?" Tony gaped at Abby. He shouldn't have been
surprised. She came up with the craziest ideas, but this one took the
cake.

Sure, they had a
blizzard over the last three days and she'd driven over to his
place—a newish bungalow in the Del Rey neighborhood of
Alexandria—when the snow had started. Almost three feet later they
were as snowed in as it got in DC. Their last jaunt outside was
hitting a grocery store and stocking up on food and Caf-Pow for Abby.

It had snowed
constantly for nearly three days now and anyone who traveled was
taking their lives into their own hands. Abby's roadster sat beside
Tony's '83 Camaro in the garage. It had taken Tony hours to clean
off a path to the front walk and now, hours later, the last thing he
wanted to do was go outside and deal with the cold stuff.

"Yeah, come on. I'm
from New Orleans, Tony. I have never made a proper snowman. You need
to teach me. We haven't had snow like this since I've been in DC.
And who better to make snowmen with? Come on, Tony. We can make a
complete army."

Tony sighed, rolling
his eyes. Despite his protests, she knew he'd do anything she
wanted. He'd been half in love with her since they'd met and now
that they'd taken it to the next level, he just wanted to see that
beautiful smile of hers. Abby was wearing his Ohio State sweatshirt,
barely had any makeup on, and her hair was down. She looked natural,
she looked perfect.

He was in love with his
girl and she loved him too. He was ready to take the next step, when
the time was right. He was actually going to ask a girl to move in
with him. It was why he'd gotten this place, why he'd asked her
to come over and wait the blizzard out with him, as sort of a trial
run. She was always so busy that they spent an evening together once
in a while and he wanted more. He wanted her sipping hot chocolate
with him on a lazy winter morning. He wanted to wake her up after
he'd gone for a punishing run. He wanted her with him for keeps.

Abby threw on his old
parka, snuggling down in its folds. His gloves were far too large but
she had her own in the pocket of her leather trench coat. And his
scarf was one size fits all necks. "Come on, Tony!"

Even though her
enthusiasm wasn't infectious, he found himself following her
outside, the bite of the cold tempered by the thick coating of snow.
Tony knew they'd be feeling it soon enough.

"Where do we start,
Tony?"

"Clear off a patch of
ground to start with. We want them to sit solidly on the ground. Will
make them last longer."

Abby grabbed the shovel
and attacked the snow with gusto. Tony could only watch, a smirk
playing on his lips. She had a small area cleaned off in a couple of
minutes, the color high and bright on her cheeks. He grabbed the
shovel from her, cleaning off a much larger area and within a half
hour they had a good-sized grass patch revealed.

"Now what?" Abby
asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"We start building."
Tony bent over, showing her how to pack the snow tightly and
gradually make the ball of snow bigger. When he was sure she had the
technique down, he stepped back, letting her take center stage.

Watching Abby was a
treat itself. Her cheeks were extra bright and her eyes sparkled. She
got snow everywhere but she didn't stop giggling, laughing. After
fifteen or twenty minutes, she had two rounded snowman bottoms and
Tony dragged her in for a kiss.

"You're doing
really good, Abbs."

"Yeah?" She gave
him an evil little smile. "Why aren't you helping then?" She
ran at him and he went tumbling into the snow. "Abbs!" he said
before she landed on him, shoving a handful of powdery snow into the
collar of his jacket.

"Stop it, Abbs!"

"Say uncle!"

"Uncle!"

"Say Uncle Major Mass
Spec!"

"No way!"

"Say it!" She
brandished another handful; giving him that evil look.

"Not ha—" He'd
barely gotten the words out when she jammed the snow in his mouth. Oh
it was on now. He flipped her effortlessly, unzipping the parka and
pulling the sweatshirt out enough for him to pile snow inside. She
didn't have a T-shirt or even a bra to dampen the snow's cold
bite and she gasped, flailing at him.

"Anthony Dominic
DiNozzo! You are a jerk!"

"Yeah, but I'm your
jerk, Abbs," he said before his mouth crashed down on hers, her
warm tongue chasing away the chill. It didn't matter that they were
cold and would soon be soaking, her mouth on his, her body snuggling
close, was all that mattered.

Tony looked down at
her, burhsing a lock of soaking wet black hair off her face. "Forget
the snowmen. Want some hot chocolate? I bought some of your favorite
marshmallows from the grocery store. The huge vanilla ones."

"I knew there was a
reason why I love you so much, Tony," she replied as he pulled her
to her feet.

"Why? Because I have
excellent bribery material?"

She scooped up another
handful of snow and started running after him. "No, because you're
so gullible!"

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